HIGH SPIRIT 2

Part Three

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Delia Ketchum continued reading the notebook her son sent her. She did not want to move forward, but her curiosity out weighed her fear. Lightening flashed outside the kitchen window with the sound of thunder following soon after.

'So Misty and I started for Pallet to find my beloved Pikachu and visit my family. The journey we had just begun, our walk in the woods, included important pieces to an incredible conclusion.'

Ash and Misty walked side by side through the tall thick grass, and in between the endless amount of trees. They held hands to make sure a separation would not happen again. Silence had been en stored during the last several minutes, when Ash decided to ask a question he'd been wanting to know the answer to for years.

"Did you find out why my grandfather wanted me hat in exchange for the locket I gave you?" he came to a halt and Misty kept going, but the grip Ash hand on her caused her to stop shortly after.

"Oh, he, um..." Misty paused, trying to remember what the old man told her "He told me that he doesn't only want to make money from his sells, but also trade for an item he could clean it up and have another thing to make money off of."

"Eh, so he's also just a ghost trying to make a profit. If i knew him better i might understand, but i just think that's funny. And smart." he chuckled.

Misty followed with a laugh of her own. "Everyone needs money. Even the invisible."

"Apparently." Ash nodded and chuckled again. "Oh. Did you have to give him an item too?"

"Yep." Misty replied quickly with a nod.

"Really?" Ash was surprised.

"Yeah." Misty smiled.

"What did you have to give up?"

"A little red purse that i carry in my back pack. I dont really use it and that's the least valuable item i have in my pack."

"As long as it wasn't important." Ash said. The conversation ended an their journey continued.

Meanwhile...Frank Stillwell and his gang of corrupted poke'mon trainers are comfortably sitting in their hotel suite back where the Master Tournament was being held. One man sat at a desk, fiddling with a lap top while the others sat on the couch and in chairs, talking about women, sports, and movies. "I really think the Brewers have a shot at the title this year." one of the guys said.

"No way. St. Louis is coming back. You'll see." another man argued.

"Remember when the Guy's Choice Awards was on Spike TV?" someone asked.

"Yeah." many of the other men responded with nods.

"Well they had the category 'hottest Jessica' with Alba and Biel as the two nomines. But i think Simpson is way hotter than Biel. She should have been the second nomine. But oh well, Alba ended up winning. So it all worked out." the guys said, everyone apparently agreed, as they all nodded.

"Anyone here gonna see that new Michael Moore movie, 'Sicko?'" a guy asked.

"Fuck Moore!" Frank exclaimed as he stood up from his spot on a chair.

Everyone was stunned at his outburst, though they all knew he was an emotional person. "Maybe he should make a documentary called 'Super slim me please! Please!'" he yelled.

"He actually didn't make 'Super Size Me'...and i for one agree with everything he has to say." the man that asked the question about seeing 'Sicko' said. He was obviously new in this group, or he wouldn't be going on like this.

Frank pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the guy's face. "Say that again and we wont be bowling for Columbine, we'll be bowling with your head. So shut the hell up!" he yelled, still pointing the gun in his face.

The man didn't really seem to fear Frank, but apologized anyways. "Sorry."

Frank pulled the gun back and stuck it into his back pocket.

"Mr. Stillwell." the guy sitting at the laptop called.

"What?!" Frank asked angrily.

"I found his house."

Frank and his men approached the computer. "He wont have the home advantage for long." Frank smirked.

On the computer screen was a picture of Ash, and the detailed info about the location of his house.

Back to the couple walking through the woods, they had reached a small clearing that was perfect for a camping spot. Ash walked around to scout the area.

"Do you even know where we are?" Misty asked. Then she took a seat on a log. She crossed her arms over her body and shivered. The temperature was in the low sixties and getting cooler.

"I know where we are. Don't worry." Ash said as he walked around.

"I don't think you do know. You've always had a bad sense of direction."

"Excuse me, but at least i was trying to be a leader back then." Ash defended himself.

"A leader of what? 24/7 camper's club?" Misty urged the fight on.

"Besides, Brock was the one with the map. Blame him." Ash pointed behind him as if to imply their older friend was really there.

"Real mature Ash. Blame the guy that isn't even here to defend himself." Misty shook her head.

"Look whose talking, your the one who started this crap." Ash fought back.

The two were in full heat, not blinking as they glared at each other with fire in their eyes. Then the two eventually cracked by each breaking a smile, followed by hard core giggles.

When the laughing finally subsided after a few minutes, they greeted each other with a comforting hug. "I can't believe we just did that." Misty said with her eyes closed, comfortable in Ash's arms.

"I know." Ash said, also happy to be in his friend's arms "There's still kids inside of us. Kids that are very stupid."

"I'm sorry." Misty apologized

"Don't be. I think our silly fights have somehow made us closer, ya know?" Ash looked into her eyes.

She starred back and said "No. I don't know." she laughed.

"Let's just forget it and set up camp."

Misty nodded while Ash removed some contents from his back pack, such as a sleeping bag and matches.

Hours passed and nightfall was upon them. The two sat beside one another on the ground in front of the fire that was started awhile ago. Wrappers from nutrition, but mostly candy bars that the two ate littered the ground. Dr. Pepper cans were also mixed in with the trash.

Misty held her blue heart shaped locket in her hands, fiddling with it.

"Misty..." Ash started.

"Yeah." she answered.

"Are you, are you gonna tell everyone about what happened to you?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned him.

"You know...that your a ghost." he reminded her.

She did not answer. It was about half a minute later when she responded. "No."

"No?" Ash questioned.

"I wish i had the courage to do so. But it would be too hard." she said, looking at her locket.

"Your gonna have to tell them eventually." Ash rubbed her left arm as if to say everything was all right.

"It's harder to do than you think." she replied.

"I can imagine." he said.

Misty looked into his brown eyes. She took his hat off and set it aside. Then she put her hands on his head and ran her fingers through his hair, massaging him.

Ash grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms down. Then he bent forward and kissed her on the lips. Misty kissed back, and the two held their lips together with tongues intertwined for several minutes before they separated.

A few minutes later the two lie in their sleeping bags next to each other, holding hands as sleep over-took them.

In the morning the sun shined brightly over Ash's face. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the clear blue sky. He heard singing not too far from him, it was coming from Misty, who sat against a tall tree.

I tried to help you once
Against my own advice
I saw you going down
But you never realized
That you're drowning in the water
So I offered you my hand
Compassion's in my nature
Tonight is our last stand

Ash got out of his bag and stood up. "Morning, Mist." he greeted her, causing the singing to stop.

"Good morning, Ashy. Sleep well?" she asked.

"Like a baby Snourlax." he replied.

"good." Misty laughed.

"What song were you singing?" Ash asked her.

" 'Scars' by Papa Roach. It's definitely one of my top three, if not most favorite song there is." she told him. Then she stood up and walked over to him with a smile. She bent down in front of him and picked up his hat. "Put your hat on. I paid a lot for this."

He took it from her hands "Ok." and placed it on his head. "You have to put your locket on too. I paid a lot for that as well."

She picked it up and placed it around her neck.

"Good. Now let's get going." Ash said with a smile.

"All right. Let's roll up the sleeping bags." Misty went to her bag and started rolling it up.

Ash did not as he noticed the ground was muddy. "Did it rain last night?"

"Huh?" Misty's attention went from her sleeping bag to him.

"The ground is all muddy. It wasn't when we got here." he observed with confusion.

"I guess it did rain. We must have been in a deep sleep." Misty responded.

Ash then noticed shoe prints all over the area. Misty joined him in his spot. "Looks like someone was here last night." Misty said "Maybe THEY watered the ground."

"This is strange." Ash rubbed the top of his head.

"Don't worry about it. We have to go." Misty tugged the back of his shirt.

"Right." the two packed up their stuff and got back on the trail.

'I just couldn't understand it. How could the ground be muddy when it was dry when I went to sleep? How could it rain or be watered without Misty or I knowing about it? An explanation was needed. And unfortunately I would get one in the coming days.' a blast of thunder startled Delia and forced her to stop reading the notebook.

She didn't know why, but she was crying. She realized that her son was in danger and that she had to do something about it. She got up from the table and paced in the kitchen. Then she thought she should check out the rest of the notebook. So she sat back down and resumed reading.

After walking for more than a day, Ash and Misty were finally out of the thick forest with a clear path ahead of them. They came to a green grassy hill top to see their destination below.

"There it is. Pallet Town." Ash said, pointing to his home town.

"Are you ready?" Misty asked.

"Yeah. Let's go." he said and took off running towards the town with his female companion following close behind.

It didn't take long to get to the house Ash grew up in as a child. But Misty arrived a little later, not being able to keep up with the high energy boy. "Hurry up, Mist!" he shouted before knocking on the door.

Misty found herself at the house and walked to the front door where Ash stood. The door opened to reveal Delia standing there.

"Oh-my-goodness!" she grabbed her boy and squeezed him tightly. "What are you doing here?!" she shoved him away with anger. She had gone from surprised and excited to upset in a matter of seconds.

"I came to see if Pikachu was here." Ash explained.

"No. why would Pikachu be here?" his mom asked, puzzled.

Ash sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Is everything all right?" Delia asked, worried.

"We'll explain inside." Misty put a hand on Ash's right shoulder.

The three were inside, sitting in the living room. Ash and Misty sat together on the couch. Delia sat in a recliner nearest to her son.

"I was training Pikachu away from the city to prepare for my next battle. Things didn't go as plan however as I stood on the cliff looking at the landscape below." Ash explained "A gang of bad poke'mon trainers emerged from the trees, including my next opponent during the Master Tournament. He pulled out a gun and fired at me. I was able to dodge the bullet and jump off the cliff and land in a lake.

Delia's jaw hung open. She was stunned beyond belief. "There is so much evil in this world."

"But…but Pikachu was still up there and I have no idea what happened to him. I thought maybe he might come here looking for me. But I guess not." Ash lowered his head.

"I'm so sorry, baby." Delia came over and hugged her son.

"Maybe Frank has Pikachu." Misty suggested.

"You think?" Ash asked.

"He might be holding him hostage so you'll come try and rescue him." Misty theorized.

"Maybe." Ash rubbed his right cheek hard a couple of times. "We should go find them." he stood up, ready to roll again.

"Ash, Misty." Brock ran into the room. He looked excited to see them.

"Brock?" Ash and Misty asked in unison, surprised to see him standing there.

"Long time no see." he walked in front of the couch and hugged the two.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked.

"I came here to stay before all of us would go and see you in the tournament." Brock explained.

Professor Oak walked into the room "Hello, everybody." he waved.

"Hi, Professor Oak." Ash and Misty said in unison.

"So Ash, tell us about your poke'mon battles." Oak sat down on a rocking chair.

"Well I went on two very long winning streaks this past season with thirty three victories in thirty five battles. It's interesting because if it weren't for a couple little miscues, I could have had a winning streak of thirty six wins straight, which would be the longest streak ever." Ash finished with a proud look on his face.

"Wow." Professor Oak was definitely impressed by who he considered to be his son almost.

"Also, I finished my rookie season with the most wins ever by a trainer in his first year." Ash bragged.

"That's cool." Brock gave a thumbs up.

"I'm also having one of the best seasons in over ten years by a trainer at this level. My performance has been 'extremely exciting' as described by broadcaster, Ken Gates." Ash continued his bragging.

"You want extremely exciting?" Brock asked "I now have a girlfriend." he pulled out his wallet from his pant pocket and took out a photograph of her.

Ash and Misty leaned in to look at it. She had tanned skin with brown eyes and straight brown hair, that went past her shoulders.

"She's a cutie." Ash commented.

"Congratulations, Brock." Misty patted her friend on the back. "What's her name?"

"Kate, Kate Spears." Brock replied.

"Good to see it's coming together for all of us." Delia smiled.

But Misty became saddened and her eyes were full of tears…

That night Ash and Misty lay in bed together talking. Talking about old memories from their poke'mon adventures. "I'm telling you, we would have made great radio personalities in Goldenrod." Ash said.

"You think so, huh?" Misty smiled.

"Yeah. Especially you." he rubbed his hand on her head.

"Would Brock be there too?" Misty asked.

"Sure. The Ash, Misty, and Brock Show. Sounds great." he laughed.

"I see you have that photograph on display." Misty said.

"Huh?"

"On your desk." she looked at his desk in front of the bed, beside the dresser. It was the photograph that featured Ash, Brock, Pikachu, Max, and May sitting on a log in front of a river. The blue glowing light situated behind Ash with a darker blue heart shape in the center. It had been framed.

"Oh yeah. I've been meaning to ask you about that picture." Ash said, getting up to grab it. He returned to the bed with the picture and handed it to Misty.

She looked at it carefully, and touched the spot in the picture where the blue glow was. "That's you isn't it?" Ash asked.

She looked to him "Yeah. It is. It is."

"I can't believe you were there that day."

"I wanted to be apart of the picture." she said. Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered that moment like it just happened yesterday…

- "Ok everyone I want to get a picture of all of you together in front of the river." Delia said, holding a digital camera in her hands.

"Ok, Mrs. Ketchum." May said with a smile.

"Where's Ash at?" Delia noticed her son was no where to be seen.

"I know where he is." Brock said.

Not too far down the river was Ash and Pikachu, sitting on a small cliff that was up over the water. He looked sad as he pet his poke'mon. then a slight chuckle escaped his throat from a memory that came by his mind.

"Ash." Brock stepped into the scene.

"Hey, Brock." Ash met his eyes.

"Did you come over here to reminisce?" Brock asked, taking a seat beside him on the ground.

"Yeah. This is where I first met Misty, and every time I come here I'm reminded of that moment where we first laid eyes on each other." he smiled, memorizing the moment once again.

"I don't think you ever told me how you first met. I know you met at this river, but no other detail." Brock said, throwing a rock into the water.

"Well…" Ash started "I had dived into the river with Pikachu to escape a flock of angry spearrow's. Misty was sitting in this very spot, fishing. She was hoping for some whoppers, but she hooked me instead, and pulled me out of the water with her rod."

"Wow." Brock smiled, imagining what the moment looked like.

"She asked me if I was ok and I said 'yeah.' But evidentially she was talking to Pikachu because after I gave my response she slapped me across the face. I was definitely surprised and angry when it happened. But now it tickles me every time I think about it." he laughed after he finishing his flashback.

"She's quite the character." Brock smiled, making Ash laugh once again.

"I miss her so much. Wish she was here." he said.

"Me too. But she has to take care of the gym. Now come on, your mom wants to take a picture of all of us." Brock grabbed his friend and helped him up.

The two walked over to Delia and the other's. "There you boy's are now go sit on that log." she pointed to a log in front of the river, where May and Max already sat. drops of rain started to fall from the black cloudy sky. "Oh shoot. We have to hurry."

Ash and Brock joined their friends on the log and posed for the picture. The flash from the camera went off, thus ending the flashback-

"I was there with you that day." Misty said, choked up in her tears. Ash hugged her tightly. "I sat by you and heard everything you said. Then I decided to get behind you in the picture as to imagine I was truly there with all of you, and apart of the group."

Ash was choked up himself. He fought back the tears as he hugged his friend.

Delia was also in tears as she read this part in the notebook. They were streaming down her cheeks like a water fall. "It's not fair. This world is so unfair." she said, and continued to read.

"Ash…we've kissed twice now and it's led nowhere." Misty changed the topic.

"Huh?"

"A year ago we made out on the couch in the living room. Then just last night we kissed again." Misty said

"Uh-huh." Ash nodded, knowing where this was headed.

"So the question is…do you, do you love me?" Misty asked.

Ash looked deep into her aqua blue eyes, and replied "Yes. Have for many years. And for many years to come."

"I've known for awhile. I just wanted to hear you say it out loud."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Since I've been invisible I have spied on you when you thought you were alone, revealing secrets in your notebook and out loud." Misty confessed.

"Wh-wh-wha…hey. That's invasion of privacy." Ash said, sort of angry.

"Yeah, but that was before I discovered what my locket could do. Come on, Ash, I was dead. I wanted to know the stuff I never knew." Misty explained.

"Guess that would be pretty dumb of me to be mad about that." Ash thought.

"Yes, it would." Misty smiled.

"Now it's my turn to ask the question." Ash started "Do you love me?"

"Of course. You're my first, my only, and my only forever more."

The two kissed. It wasn't long until their kissing grew more passionate. Ash now lay on top of Misty, kissing her neck, causing her to moan. She removed his hat and tossed it on the floor.

…To be continued…

Thanks for reading. I expect lots of reviews, the ones that say things like: 'Finally!' 'hurry with the next chapter' 'this sucks' 'this was pointless' 'you suck' 'go to hell!' and etc. I hoped at least one of you liked it.